It is known to prepare beverages by mixing a beverage concentrate such as a dry powder and a liquid such as cold or hot water. Thereby, the following principle is generally applied for the beverage preparation. A beverage concentrate such as a dry powder is introduced into a receptacle such as a coffee or tea cup. Then, the cup is placed below an outlet of a dilution and mixing device which introduces at least a stream or jet of water to the cup in order to enable an interaction of the beverage concentrate and the hot water. Accordingly, the beverage concentrate is dissolved and eventually frothed by the hot water in order to prepare a beverage. However, the existing beverage preparation devices which make use of the above outlined principle suffer the inconvenience that the beverage concentrate is not fully diluted and thus, residua of the concentrate are present in the prepared beverage. This leads to a non-uniform and thus to a non-inviting appearance of the prepared beverage.
In addition, during provision of beverage concentrate to a receptacle, parts of the concentrate may stick to the inner side walls of the receptacle and can thus not be fully dissolved in the beverage preparation process. Moreover, if the beverage concentrate is not fully dissolved in the liquid provided to the receptacle, the taste of the beverage may vary from the intended beverage taste. Hence, particularly for the beverage preparation of hot beverages such as tea or coffee, it is desired to have a reproducible strength respectively concentration of the beverage to be prepared, wherein the concentration of the beverage corresponds to the amount of beverage concentrate provided to the receptacle and does not vary for each preparation. Therefore, a device for the preparation of a beverage according to the above stated principle is sought-after, which enables a full dissolution of the whole amount of beverage concentrate provided to the receptacle.
EP 0 060 645 A1 proposes an apparatus for dispensing liquid into a container at a dispensing station in which two or more nozzles are arranged symmetrically around a central axis and are fed with liquid from a reservoir by a pump. Thereby, the nozzles are inclined from the vertical so as to produce a swirling action as the liquid hits the bottom of the container. Accordingly, in-cup dispensing in order to dissolve or disperse solid material placed at the bottom of a container is enabled.
Based on the prior art, the present invention aims at providing a device and a method for allowing an efficient beverage preparation on the basis of food concentrate provided to a receptacle which is mixed with hot water supplied by a jet dissolving device.
The present invention also aims at providing a device and a method for producing mixed drinks which consist of coffee and milk, for example cappuccino or latte macchiato. Thereby, the coffee beverage is preferably prepared separately to the milk beverage in order to enable a full interaction of the different food substances with liquid before the mixing of the different beverage types.
The present invention enables the preparation of beverages by effective dissolution of powder concentrates with hot water in a very short time.
Moreover, the present invention enables the production of beverages with an attractive appearance presenting simultaneously small and dense bubbles and a homogeneous dissolution.
In addition, the present invention enables the preparation of different beverages presenting different types of foam quality or even the absence of foam according to the type of prepared beverage.
Lastly, the present invention enables the preparation of complex beverages composed of different basic liquid beverages—one of which being preferably coffee—either foamed or not in a limited time.